@HerdVolleyball Drops League Opener at Charlotte

Jac’cara Walker led the Herd with 18 kills

CHARLOTTE – The Marshall volleyball team dropped its league opener, falling to the Charlotte 49ers, 3-1 (22-25, 25-19, 23-25, 26-28), on Friday night at Halton Arena.

“Tonight was a great volleyball match,” head coach Mitch Jacobs said. “The big difference came down to us needing to take care of the ball better. We had numerous leads in sets three and four, and then gave them back without Charlotte having to work for points.

“We definitely have continued to get better at battling good teams as a unit. I’m proud of the fight and resilience we showed. Now, we need to make the plays down the stretch. We are getting real close with this group.”

Charlotte (14-3, 1-0 C-USA) opened the match by taking five of the first nine points, but a kill by Hill evened the match. From there, the 49ers took seven of 10 points in the middle of the set to open up a 12-8 lead. A kill from Walker tied things at 17-17, but Charlotte pulled away to win the first set 25-22.

Marshall (5-11, 0-1 C-USA) began the second set by taking seven of the first 10 points, with Katie Jacques and Walker taking three kills each. The 49ers then took 10 of the next 18 points to cut the Herd’s lead to 15-13. Marshall limited Charlotte to only five more points, as it took the second set, 25-19, to tie things up at 1-1.

The third was closely contested that featured 16 different ties, while neither side had more than a two-point advantage throughout the set. Both sides had a chance to gain the advantage at 23-23, but Charlotte took the next two points and took a 2-1 set lead.

The 49ers opened the fourth set by taking six of the first nine points. After tying the match at 7-7, both sides would go back-and-forth all the way to the midway point, leaving both sides level at 15-15. Charlotte eventually moved to match point with a 24-22 lead, but Marshall took the next two points to tie things up. Eventually the 49ers pulled away and won the set 28-26 and took the match.

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The Herd returns to action on Sunday, Sept. 24, to take on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at 2 p.m. in Murfreesboro, Tenn.